Vancouver Pride Society's (VPS) 35th annual Pride Festival will be one of the largest ever, thanks to a budget substantially larger than last year and newfound support from the City of Vancouver to cover most of the bill for policing the parade and cleaning up afterward.
More lucrative sponsorships and revamping the business plan for producing the festival's official guide has pushed Pride's budget up to $1 million, VPS general manager Ray Lam told Business in Vancouver.
That includes approximately $600,000 in cash and $400,000 worth of in-kind donations.
Last year, the VPS budget totalled $850,000.
Hoteliers, restaurateurs and retailers are also excited about the sales bump that an estimated 800,000 Pride festival and parade attendees will provide. The 19 events take place between June 29 and August 4.
"Our Sandman hotel on Davie Street is typically full throughout Pride," said Salim Kassam, director of marketing at Vancouver-based Northland Properties, which operates 45 hotels and is a Pride sponsor.
"There's a number of hotels along that corridor that do quite a bit of business thanks to Pride and the travellers who have a good time typically eat out in restaurants."
John Nicholson, West End Business Improvement Association chairman, agreed that the event is good for local business.
"Phone any of the hotels in the West End to see if you can get a reservation during Pride.
"You can't. Retailers will be busy, and we know the restaurants, pubs and nightclubs will be busy." Mosi Alvand, who owns Olympia Restaurant on Denman Street, said his busiest day of the year is the day of the Pride parade.
"It brings a lot of business for all the restaurants," he said. "There are lineups, but people are so happy that it all goes very smoothly."
VPS is also enjoying increased revenue this year from producing its advertising-laden Pride guide in-house instead of contracting it out. Last year, confusion arose when two guides were published, leading to a loss of potential revenue for VPS.
"This year we sold substantially more advertising space than we have in the past because advertisers know that we get all the [advertising] revenue," Lam said.
A bigger boost to VPS operations will come next year when it feels the impact of the city granting the parade civic status, which means the city will pick up the tab for 75% of the cost of policing and cleanup at the August 4 VPS parade.
Because cleanup costs don't have to be paid until the fall, after the society's 2013 fiscal year-end, the reduced costs will first be noticed in 2014.
"The extra money will help next year," Lam said.
